Long TDs, Big Special Teams Plays and Owen Heinecke Tackles: Three Bold Predictions for Oklahoma-Georgia

Oklahoma will have its hands full Saturday when it takes on No. 2 Georgia at 2:30 p.m. at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga.

The Sooners and Bulldogs are third and fourth nationally in wins since the start of the 2000 season.

An Oklahoma win would give the Sooners win No. 274 during that span, tying them with Georgia.

OU has won three consecutive true road games against top five opponents since 2015 — beating No. 4 Baylor 44-34 in Waco in 2015, No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus in 2017, and No. 4 Alabama 23-21 last season in Tuscaloosa.

The Sooners last such loss came to No. 5 Baylor in 2013.

But an unranked Oklahoma has not played a top-five team in a true road environment since falling to top-ranked Nebraska 69-7 in 1997 and hasn’t played a top-five team in any setting since falling to No. 2 Texas 45-12 in 2005.

The Sooners’ last win as an unranked team against a top-five opponent came in a 27-23 win at No. 3 Kansas way back on Nov. 9, 1968.

Oklahoma will need to be creative in order to have a chance to pull off the upset.

So there’ll be some opportunities for some off-the-wall happenings.

Last week’s bold predictions didn’t exactly come through.

Tate Sandell missed on his only field-goal try, from 41 yards out, instead of hitting his first 50-plus yarder of the season.

Elijah Thomas finished with just two catches for nine yards instead of recording his first career touchdown, though Mateer missed a deep shot to Thomas that could've led to a score.

And while the Sooners recorded six sacks, none of them came from the newcomers on defense.

Here are this week’s bold predictions:

Oklahoma Sooners, Grayson Miller — Oklahoma punter Grayson Miller prepares to punt against Michigan. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

Grayson Miller has a 65-Yard Plus Punt

Grayson Miller has shown the ability to boom long punts over the last two seasons.

Including his years at Central Oklahoma, Miller has a punt of 65 or more yards in each of his first three collegiate seasons.

The Edmond product nearly blew past the mark against Michigan, getting off an 82-yard punt in the first quarter but that punt was wiped out by a Wolverines’ running-into-the-kicker penalty.

Miller did eventually get off a 62-yard punt in the fourth quarter of that game.

With Georgia’s high-powered defense, and Oklahoma’s offensive struggles of late, Miller figures to get plenty of opportunities with a lot of field in front of him.

At least one of those gets a very friendly bounce and Miller pins the Bulldogs’ offense deep with a long punt.

Oklahoma Scores a TD From 60 or Longer

The Sooners have created more explosive passing plays this season than they did last year.

John Mateer already has six touchdown passes of 20 yards or further out in three games after Oklahoma produced just 11 such scoring plays in 13 games last season.

Mateer has hit four passes of 40 or more yards through three games, three of those going to touchdowns — all to different receivers.

While all of that sounds good on the surface, it’s also a product of how defenses have attacked the Sooners. They’ve loaded up the box to stop the run and short passes, doing a solid job of that overall while Oklahoma hasn’t converted enough deep shots to cause defenses to sit back.

Georgia figures to take a similar approach.

While Mateer misses on a couple of deep shots, he does connect on his longest touchdown pass of the season, likely to Isaiah Sategna.

Oklahoma Sooners, Owen Heinecke — Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke makes a tackle against UTEP. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

Owen Heinecke Records at Least 15 Tackles

Georgia’s offense will stress the Sooners’ linebackers, Owen Heinecke and Kip Lewis.

Heinecke has led the Sooners in tackles in each of the first three games.

Last season, Heinecke led Oklahoma in tackles in three of the last five games after breaking into the starting lineup and led the team in tackles during that span with 41 during that stretch.

Heinecke has risen to the occasion repeatedly over the last year, and he’ll do that again here — both because of talent and by necessity.

The sixth-year senior played every defensive snap last week against New Mexico, and he’ll have to play virtually every snap in this one.

Heinecke takes advantage of the opportunity and becomes the first Oklahoma defender to record 15 or more tackles since Danny Stutsman had 19 vs. Missouri in 2024.

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